Ancient Armenian Church Thrives In Modern Era

The archbishop of the Eastern United States Diocese of the Armenian Church of America said the ancient church is heading into a new era of growth and recognition in this country.

Archbishop Torkom Manoogian, in Orlando this week as part of a series of visits to Florida parishes, said the beleagured Armenian people are figuring prominently in many public sectors, such as George Deukmejian, the governor of California.

That visibility, coupled with a national resurgence of interest in ethnic heritage, has caused many of the 700,000 Armenians in the United States to return to the church of their forefathers, Manoogian said.

''We have a rich culture with much to add and much to be proud of,'' he said. ''We are here to stay and we are safe as long as the United States is safe.''

The 3,000-year-old Armenia, now partly in the Soviet Union, partly in Turkey and partly in Iran, accepted Christianity as its state religion in 301, making it the first official Christian nation.

Church history teaches that the apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew, contemporaries of the apostle Paul, brought Christianity into Armenia where it was widely accepted by the people but was not embraced by King Tiridates III until 301.

In that year, according to tradition, the king was healed of a mental disorder by St. Gregory, who had been imprisoned for 13 years for being a Christian.

Gregory directed the building of the Cathedral of Etchmiadzin which, although it lies within the Soviet Union, continues to be the seat of the catholicos, the spiritual head of the church.

The catholicos, currently Vasken I, operates with a great deal of freedom under the atheistic Soviet government, Manoogian said. In recent years the government has given permission to the church to renovate and use 20 church buildings that had been appropriated after the revolution.

Within the Soviet Union the church cannot hold Sunday school or have youth organizations, but is allowed to operate a seminary and monastery at Holy Etchmiadzin.

Theologically, the Armenian church is grouped with the Oriental Orthodox churches, which also include the Coptic, Syrian and Ethiopian orthodox churches, Manoogian said.

The Armenian church was not organized in the United States until 1891 when the first parish was constituted in Massachusetts.

Growth was slow until 1915 when emigration of more than 50,000 Armenians swelled the ranks of the church.

Most of the emigres were escaping the first genocide of this century when the remnants of the Ottaman Empire killed 2 million Armenians, which has been estimated to have been 75 percent of the population.

Manoogian's parents escaped the killings on foot and settled in the desert outside Baghdad in Iraq, where Manoogian was born in 1919.

''Turks today deny that the massacre ever took place,'' Manoogian said, ''but there is no escaping the facts and the history.''

Today there are about 7 million Armenians, with 4 million in the Soviet Republic of Armenia, 1.5 million in other areas of the Soviet Union and the rest scattered throughout the world.

There are two parishes of the Armenian Church in America in Miami, and there are mission groups of the church in Orlando, Ocala and St. Petersburg.

Manoogian has appointed a parish council in Orlando and said he hopes within a few years to form a complete parish in the area. Currently a priest from the Miami area commutes to the three missions to hold monthly services.

''Eventually we will build a church and community center here that will teach Armenian language and culture to our people and everyone interested,'' Manoogian said. ''I do not think that is far off.''

Manoogian, now in his sixth four-year term as primate of the Eastern Diocese, runs the diocese from the Cathedral of St. Vartan in New York City.

St. Vartan was consecrated in 1968 by Vasken I, who still serves as the catholicos of the worldwide church. The church resembles the Cathedral of Etchmiadzin, which is Vasken I's seat.

Manoogian's Eastern Diocese encompasses all of the United States except California, which has its own archbishop.

Manoogian is in Miami today and Sunday to convene a regional meeting of the church where topics will include the youth ministry and women's role in the church.